Bormio: Moelgg grabs SL title; Herbst wins race

BORMIO, Italy — Manfred Moelgg skied to a World Cup slalom title Saturday in front of home country fans, surviving the second run to finish in a tie for sixth place and get the points he needed to overtake France’s Jean-Baptiste Grange.

   On a sunny morning on the Stelvio race course, Grange, who started the run in fourth place, made a huge mistake just three gates from the finish. That opened the door for Moelgg, who led after the first run and was the only skier left standing who could catch Grange in the race for the title. To the delight of the Italian fans that filled the stadium, Moelgg took advantage of the opportunity. He wound up with 531 points to 512 for Grange.
   Reinfried Herbst of Austria won the race in a two-run time of 1:51.31, and moved up to third in the slalom standings with 450 points. Switzerland’s Daniel Albrecht rode the fastest second run to a runner-up finish in 1:51.63. Austrian Marcel Hirscher, the 2008 world junior champ in slalom, finished third in 1:51.65.

BORMIO, Italy — Manfred Moelgg skied to a World Cup slalom title Saturday in front of home country fans, surviving the second run to finish in a tie for sixth place and get the points he needed to overtake France’s Jean-Baptiste Grange.

   On a sunny morning on the Stelvio race course, Grange, who started the run in fourth place, made a huge mistake just three gates from the finish. That opened the door for Moelgg, who led after the first run and was the only skier left standing who could catch Grange in the race for the title. To the delight of the Italian fans that filled the stadium, Moelgg took advantage of the opportunity. He wound up with 531 points to 512 for Grange.
   Reinfried Herbst of Austria won the race in a two-run time of 1:51.31, and moved up to third in the slalom standings with 450 points. Switzerland’s Daniel Albrecht rode the fastest second run to a runner-up finish in 1:51.63. Austrian Marcel Hirscher, the 2008 world junior  champ in slalom, finished third in 1:51.65.
    "When I knew [Grange] had skied out," Moelgg said after the race, "I knew I could ski at 80 percent, and not like a crazy man." It was a good day for the Moelgg family. About an hour after Manfred clinched the slalom title, his sister Manuela finished second in the women's GS, the final individual race of the World Cup season.

    Mario Matt of Austria, who entered the race with a chance at the GS title, was a first-run DNF. America’s GS World Cup champ Ted Ligety straddled a gate in the first run. The only other American starter, Jimmy Cochran, was a DNF in the second run. Overall champ Bode Miller decided to skip the final individual race of the World Cup season, reportedly with an injured hand.
    Said Ligety after his first run, “I was actually skiing pretty well on top. I was third on the top split, but straddling happens.” Ligety said he tore ligaments in his thumb in the super G, and that he would have to skip the U.S. Alpine Championships, scheduled for Sugarloaf USA in Maine later this month, to get his hand checked out.
    Moelgg said that Saturday had been "a really exciting day for our whole family. Manuela proved it is possible for her to go for the victory. She had a great race. For me, it was important to have a good first run, and I had a very strong run, putting pressure on Jean-Baptiste."
    Moelgg said he was excited about finishing fourth in the overall World Cup, behind only big names like Bode Miller, Benjamin Raich and Didier Cuche, even though Moelgg really only skis two events. "Maybe next year I will try some more speed events," he said, "but I'll remain very focused on slalom and giant slalom."
    He said that it had been a great season for Italy, both the men's and women's teams, pointing to his slalom globe and Denise Karbon's GS title, among other results. He said the country and the various regions seemed to be set up well now, making it easier for good things to happen. And he added, "We trained well at the beginning of he season, and have just kept things going. That really accounts for our great results in all disciplines."

---

 

The SCOOP

By Hank McKee

Men's Slalom, Bormio, Italy, March 15, 2008
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Herbst, Blizzard/Tecnica/Marker
2 Albrecht, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Hirscher, Blizzard/Tecnica/
4 Dragsic, Volkl//Marker
5 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Lizeroux, Fischer/Lange/Fischer
6 Moelgg, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
8 Rocca, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
9 Vajdic, Elan//Atomic
10 Berthod, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
 <!–[endif]–>
Men's Slalom, Bormio, Italy, March 15, 2008.<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> … It is the 40th and final race of the men's 2008 World Cup schedule. … The 11th and final slalom. … The men had one canceled race (Bormio DH March 12); two relocated (Levi SL to Reiteralm Nov 11 and Val d'Isere DH Feb. 2 to Kvitfjell Feb. 29). The Beaver Creek SG was pushed back two day, the Wengen DH and SL ran a day early.
    It is the third career win for Reinfried Herbst. … He also won this season at Garmisch Feb. 9 and in Japan March 11, 2006. … He was on the podium in four of the final three slaloms of the season.
    It is the sixth career World Cup podium for Daniel Albrecht. … All of them coming this season. … It is his first career slalom podium his others have all come in combined, GS and downhill. … It is his first European podium outside of Switzerland.
    It is the second career World Cup podium from Marcel Hirscher. … He is the 2008 World Junior slalom champion. … It was his seventh scoring result in 12 World Cup starts.
<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–>    No North Americans completed the race. Bode Miller did not start, Ted Ligety went out in the first run and Jimmy Cochran in the second.
    Winning margin is .32 of a second. … Top eight are within the same second. … Top 12 within two seconds. … Bode Miller remains the W
orld Cup overall leader and has won the 2008 title. … Benjamin Raich is second 1409-1298. … Didier Cuche is third at 1263. … Manfred Moelgg pushes Ted Ligety out of fourth 924-898. … Moelgg (6th in race) overtakes Jan-Baptiste Grange for the slalom title winning 531-512. … Herbst moves to third at 450 and Mario Matt slips to fourth at 427. … Ligety in ninth at 274 is the top North American on the final slalom list. … Men's finalNations Cup standings are Austria 7003, Switzerland 4064, Italy 3721 and USA 3202. Canada finishes sixth with 2046 behind France.

---

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Run 1	Run 2	Total Time	FIS Points
1	3	50605	HERBST Reinfried	1978	AUT	53.89	57.42	1:51.31	0.00
2	26	510993	ALBRECHT Daniel	1983	SUI	54.43	57.20	1:51.63	1.75
3	22	53831	HIRSCHER Marcel	1989	AUT	54.03	57.62	1:51.65	1.86
4	21	560371	DRAGSIC Mitja	1979	SLO	54.56	57.21	1:51.77	2.52
5	15	50625	RAICH Benjamin	1978	AUT	54.50	57.31	1:51.81	2.74
6	5	191459	LIZEROUX Julien	1979	FRA	54.34	57.62	1:51.96	3.56
6	1	292491	MOELGG Manfred	1982	ITA	53.50	58.46	1:51.96	3.56
8	14	290478	ROCCA Giorgio	1975	ITA	54.77	57.42	1:52.19	4.82
9	8	560425	VAJDIC Bernard	1980	SLO	54.42	58.26	1:52.68	7.51
10	23	510997	BERTHOD Marc	1983	SUI	54.31	58.45	1:52.76	7.95
11	24	500499	BROLENIUS Johan	1977	SWE	55.38	57.53	1:52.91	8.77
12	11	291145	DEVILLE Cristian	1981	ITA	54.77	58.18	1:52.95	8.99
13	2	201702	NEUREUTHER Felix	1984	GER	53.59	59.87	1:53.46	11.78
14	17	501017	MYHRER Andre	1983	SWE	54.63	1:01.07	1:55.70	24.06
15	6	380260	KOSTELIC Ivica	1979	CRO	54.38	1:01.66	1:56.04	25.92
16	7	192665	GRANGE Jean-Baptiste	1984	FRA	53.91	1:02.29	1:56.20	26.80

 

Did not start 1st run : MILLER Bode (USA)
Did not finish 1st run : DEFAGO Didier (SUI), JERMAN Andrej (SLO), MISSILLIER Steve (FRA), LARSSON Markus (SWE), THALER Patrick (ITA), LIGETY Ted (USA), BYGGMARK Jens (SWE), GINI Marc (SUI), SCHOENFELDER Rainer (AUT), MATT Mario (AUT)
Did not finish 2nd run : COCHRAN Jimmy (USA), SASAKI Akira (JPN)